In England, a white cat takes a bus ride several times a week — on his own — possibly to get to a fish and chip shop!  Bus drivers have nicknamed the cat Macavity, after Macavity  the Mystery Cat of T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.  [h/t Monday Evening]

The preliminary results from Gravity Probe B confirm the geodetic effect predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity to within 1%. Data analysis will continue through December, and is expected to test another effect predicted by general relativity as well, frame dragging. [via BBC News]

A friend is playing a strange new online game, “TaxCut Free File.” I’ve only observed for few minutes, but it doesn’t actually look like he’s having much fun. The rules seem to be incredibly complicated, and it’s not clear how the player can win. There’s been a lot of swearing at it, [...]

Richard and I went to see Stones in His Pockets, presented at the Hult Center Soreng Theater in Eugene, Oregon by the Willamette Repertory Theatre.  Actors Jeff Pierce and Darragh Kennan play fifteen roles in the Irish dark comedy writtten by Marie Jones.  It’s an engaging play about a small Irish town overrun by a [...]

A friend was visiting from out of town, and she was bringing some of her pets.  She got bumped to a later flight, but one of the pets, a snake, was put on the earlier flight.  I went to the airport to pick it up.
The snake was just lying on the floor.  I picked it [...]

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, the Chinese only own 7.2% of the publicly-held portion of the U.S. national debt.  Of foreign public holders, they are second to the Japanese, who hold 13.2%.  The U.S. public holds 54.4%.
These figures are from the Skeptical Optimist’s pie chart based on Treasury data from January 2007.  Note that [...]

When I’m found dead, they won’t have to perform an autopsy. The cause will be an overdose of Ben and Jerry’s new flavor, Bananas on the Rum. It’s currently only available from their “Scoop Shops.”
Had it existed at the time, Wierd Al Yankovic would have used this flavor instead in his song “I [...]

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 11 November 1922 — 11April 2007. He’s up in heaven now.
From “God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian”:
I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist, Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an A.H.A. memorial service [...]

Now, in addition to the ridiculous, ineffective “No Fly List,” the U.S. government also has a “No Buy List,” officially called the “Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN).”  If you do business with anyone on the list, you can be subject to up to a $10 million fine and 30 years in prison.  The credit bureaus [...]

I’m visiting my friend Richard for a few days. I arrived late Friday night, and his dog Nikki was very excited to see me. She jumped up and licked me, tag wagging fiercely.
This morning, I got the same treatment, and commented to Richard that Nikki was still excited to see me. Richard [...]